Confused on how leaves work? This is for you!

nyxthenightmother

nyxthenightmother

Active Member
Here's a by no means scientific explanation of how you can expect your training to work. When a gardener states "fan leaves are useful for providing photosynthesis and nutrients" they don't just mean each leaf holds the same amount of power for the plant. They mean each fan leaf provides the engine for the branch growing from that leaves node. Trimming a fan leaf providing photosynthesis to a big bud half-way up your plant in hopes of that bud photosynthesizing for itself instead can leave the plant damaged and stressed for no reason or change to yield. It's easy and completely understandable to assume a fan leaf shading out a part of the plant is better to be cut, and at sometimes in the growth process that is smart! But, leaving that fan leaf will more often than not provide more valuable bud growth than trimming it and leaving that part of the plant to get bigger with it. This is once again by no means something that is "the only truth" of how this plant diverts energy, but in my very personal experiences it has proved to just yield better in general when you don't force the plant to only look like that one plant you see in a picture.
i have this beautiful girl 3.5 weeks into flower, and although i didn't trim everything below the top 5 or 6 big fan leaves, every bud that is provided a leaf is growing the same amount as the top buds:lol:C033454C-E4C9-4C29-88EB-B44D390ADF24.jpegC29BA588-486A-4FAD-98FD-FA868594E224.jpeg
 
nyxthenightmother

nyxthenightmother

Active Member
in english, sometimes cutting a fan leaf actually takes away energy from the plant that otherwise would have been drained away naturally overtime. when in doubt leave your girls be, nature does the job best in most but not all scenarios. just don't force it and expect it to grow exactly as imagined.
 
Mericat

Mericat

Member
nyxthenightmother said:
Here's a by no means scientific explanation of how you can expect your training to work. When a gardener states "fan leaves are useful for providing photosynthesis and nutrients" they don't just mean each leaf holds the same amount of power for the plant. They mean each fan leaf provides the engine for the branch growing from that leaves node. Trimming a fan leaf providing photosynthesis to a big bud half-way up your plant in hopes of that bud photosynthesizing for itself instead can leave the plant damaged and stressed for no reason or change to yield. It's easy and completely understandable to assume a fan leaf shading out a part of the plant is better to be cut, and at sometimes in the growth process that is smart! But, leaving that fan leaf will more often than not provide more valuable bud growth than trimming it and leaving that part of the plant to get bigger with it. This is once again by no means something that is "the only truth" of how this plant diverts energy, but in my very personal experiences it has proved to just yield better in general when you don't force the plant to only look like that one plant you see in a picture.
i have this beautiful girl 3.5 weeks into flower, and although i didn't trim everything below the top 5 or 6 big fan leaves, every bud that is provided a leaf is growing the same amount as the top buds:lol:View attachment 5320859View attachment 5320860
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What's up with the plant on the left?
 
nyxthenightmother

nyxthenightmother

Active Member
Cpappa27 said:
Im not confused, Im not sure how anyone can be, its pretty cut and dry.
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yeah man i get it can be obvious, just me going into it assumed that a fan leaf provided only for the whole plant, not it's designated place. and therefore i believed trimming my way to what looked like the perfect plant just stressed her out
 
Cpappa27

Cpappa27

Well-Known Member
nyxthenightmother said:
yeah man i get it can be obvious, just me going into it assumed that a fan leaf provided only for the whole plant, not it's designated place. and therefore i believed trimming my way to what looked like the perfect plant just stressed her out
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Dont trim anything next time except for the undergrowth so nothing is touching the soil other than that every leaf you remove is final harvest weight removed.
 
calvin.m16

calvin.m16

Well-Known Member
nyxthenightmother said:
buddies plant who is new at growing and needed me to take it over for him to flower it.
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You shouldn't share plants or take plants from other people. Really easy way to get White Powdery Mildew, Mites and other problems in your grow.

I have done the method of stripping all fan leaves on day 21 with decent results, the yield stayed pretty much the same and come harvest I just had a lot less fan leaves to pluck off. Personally though I do leave the upper fan leaves alone now as I've noticed the plants simply grow better.
1692922016643.jpeg

Getting rid of the lower leaves will in fact help the plant focus on the upper leaves, that's just how it has to work to live. I prefer high airflow, thick untrained/unpruned canopies can lead to perfect environments for molds/mildew/insects. Also, harvesting floppy little dainty airy branches is not fun and or efficient. Buds need light to grow, if your goal is to grow some awesome big green leaves go for it, I'm growing buds.
 
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Cpappa27

Cpappa27

Well-Known Member
calvin.m16 said:
You shouldn't share plants or take plants from other people. Really easy way to get White Powdery Mildew, Mites and other problems in your grow, just to name a couple.
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Same thing with chickens. Always isolate before introducing to the family. I got the red mites or fleas or something once on my flock from some free chicken I got from the neighbor. What a bitch that was. I had to hand dunk every one of them in a flea bath and scrub them. Chickens dont like swimming.
 
Cpappa27

Cpappa27

Well-Known Member
nyxthenightmother said:
yeah it's how i got fungus gnats, learn from my dumbass mistakes guys!:D
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Fungus gnats are easy. Put a 1 inch layer of play sand on top of your soil and voila gnats will die off completely and wont be able to lay eggs cause they cant get through the sand. You can make it even better and put a layer of diatomaceous earth under the sand so any gnats trying to make it to the surface turn into mincemeat
 
nyxthenightmother

nyxthenightmother

Active Member
calvin.m16 said:
You shouldn't share plants or take plants from other people. Really easy way to get White Powdery Mildew, Mites and other problems in your grow, just to name a couple.

On the subject though, I defoliate any leaves that are not getting a lot of light and try to not overthink it, I have completely stripped all large/medium fan leaves on day 21 of flower and still got pretty good results with multiple genetics, I prefer lolipopping plants to the very tip of each main branch a few days before flower, sending them out, a few weeks in after stretch I will pluck away any big fan leaves that are clearly blocking buds or hanging low and getting no light.
View attachment 5320863

Getting rid of the lower leaves will in fact help the plant focus on the upper leaves, that's just how it has to work to live. I prefer high airflow, thick untrained/pruned canopies can lead to perfect environments for molds/mildew/insects. Also, harvesting floppy little dainty airy branches is not fun and or efficient.
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dude beautifully put, i definitely defoliate but only shaded. untrained is inefficient but there is a solid line to be crossed.
 
nyxthenightmother

nyxthenightmother

Active Member
Cpappa27 said:
Fungus gnats are easy. Put a 1 inch layer of play sand on top of your soil and voila gnats will die off completely and wont be able to lay eggs cause they cant get through the sand. You can make it even better and put a layer of diatomaceous earth under the sand so any gnats trying to make it to the surface turn into mincemeat
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ooooo good idea g i didn't even consider another option than neem. thanks guys sorry if i seemed a little ignorant at first was just throwing out a voila that i think i've seen a lot of people go through.
 
calvin.m16

calvin.m16

Well-Known Member
Cpappa27 said:
Same thing with chickens. Always isolate before introducing to the family. I got the red mites or fleas or something once on my flock from some free chicken I got from the neighbor. What a bitch that was. I had to hand dunk every one of them in a flea bath and scrub them. Chickens dont like swimming.
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Oh man that sounds like a nightmare. I once got White Powdery Mildew back in 2019 when I took a Cinderella 99 clone from a family friend. That fucked my grow up for a year or two, I had to constantly spray spray spray until i finally went hazmat mode and zerotol fogged every possible nook and cranny, changed every filter, scrubbed every possible surface with bleach water and dialed in my environment with new genetics. Haven't seen it since, I also no longer suck air in from outside at all. Oh and I forgot, I also ran a sulfur burner until it caught on fire.
 
Cpappa27

Cpappa27

Well-Known Member
calvin.m16 said:
Oh man that sounds like a nightmare. I once got White Powdery Mildew back in 2019 when I took a Cinderella 99 clone from a family friend. That fucked my grow up for a year or two, I had to constantly spray spray spray until i finally went hazmat mode and zerotol fogged every possible nook and cranny, changed every filter, scrubbed every possible surface with bleach water and dialed in my environment with new genetics. Haven't seen it since, I also no longer suck air in from outside at all. Oh and I forgot, I also ran a sulfur burner until it caught on fire.
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Yeah PM is a nightmare, when I see it I get this feeling in my stomach similar to how I feel right before a car accident.
 
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